Will Clyburn drained his first six three-pointers. All six. In a Play-In game. With elimination on the line.
By the time the second quarter started, the result was already written. Barcelona had 29 points. Crvena Zvezda had 21. The Palau was loud. Zvezda looked rattled.
They never recovered.
Final score: 80-72. But that number lies. It was not that close.
Clyburn and Punter Were Unstoppable
The two American guards carried Barcelona through this. Clyburn finished with 22 points. Punter finished with 22 points. Two men, 44 points between them, both dialled in from the opening tip.
Punter was the quieter of the two — not in volume, but in style. He picked his spots, hit his shots, and never looked hurried. Clyburn was the one setting the crowd alight. Six straight threes in the first quarter. Not a hint of hesitation on any of them.
Tomás Satoranský ran the offence without fuss. Eleven points, seven assists. His unguarded wing three midway through the third quarter — calm, unhurried — summed up how comfortable Barcelona were at that point. The contest was over and everyone in the building knew it.
Willy Hernangómez chipped in during the second quarter. The PIR read 93 for Barcelona. Zvezda managed 66. That gap does not lie.
Zvezda Had No Answer and No Fight
Codi Miller-McIntyre tried. Nineteen points, moments of real quality. He was the only one who showed up.
Nikola Kalinic was in that starting five. So was Chima Moneke. Both experienced. Both capable. Neither of them made any kind of impact when the game needed them. Sasa Obradovic is going to spend a long summer figuring out why.
The stats are brutal. Barcelona had 16 assists. Zvezda had nine. Barcelona turned the ball over ten times. Zvezda did it fourteen times. Steals went 8-4 to the home side.
The halftime gap was fourteen points — 47-33. A deficit like that, in a game where the loser goes home, demands a response. Instead Barcelona scored first coming out of the locker room. Zvezda called a timeout early. It changed nothing. The lead hit 22 points at 60-38 before the visitors scraped back some respectability in the final quarter.
That fourth quarter — Zvezda outscoring Barcelona 21-17 — tells you everything. The game was dead. Barcelona were rotating, managing, half thinking about Friday already.
The Numbers Do Not Lie
Barcelona hit 13 of 28 three-pointers. That is 46.4%. Zvezda shot 38.5% from three on 26 attempts. Neither figure is extraordinary on paper. Put them together in a knockout game where one team catches fire from the jump and the other never does — and the gap becomes uncrossable.
Rebounds: 40-36 to Barcelona. Offensive boards: 15-13. Small differences. But Barcelona won every single category. Every one. That is not a coincidence.
What Happens Now
Barcelona face Panathinaikos in Athens on Friday. Away from home. Win that — and they are in the EuroLeague Playoffs proper as the eighth seed.
It will be harder than Tuesday. Panathinaikos are in form after beating Monaco 87-79 in their own Play-In game. The crowd in Athens will be loud. Barcelona will not get six early three-pointers from Clyburn to silence them.
For Crvena Zvezda, the season is done. Tenth in the regular season, out in the first Play-In game. The talent on that squad is real — Miller-McIntyre, Kalinic, Moneke, Nwora. The problem was never about individuals. It was about the collective. Tuesday night in Barcelona showed that clearly.
They went out without a fight. That is the part that will hurt most.
For the latest EuroLeague basketball coverage visit FawaNews sport. Full Play-In results, playoff bracket and schedule at the official EuroLeague website.
Barcelona 80-72 Crvena Zvezda EuroLeague Play-In Round 1 | Tuesday, 21 April 2026 | Palau Blaugrana | Att: 5,252
Quarter Scores: Q1 29-21 | Q2 47-33 (HT) | Q3 63-51 | Q4 80-72
Top Scorers — Barcelona: Will Clyburn 22 | Kevin Punter 22 | Tomáš Satoranský 11 pts, 7 ast Top Scorers — Crvena Zvezda: Codi Miller-McIntyre 19
Starting Five — Barcelona: Satoranský, Hernangómez, Clyburn, Punter Starting Five — Zvezda: Miller-McIntyre, Kalinic, Bolomboy, Nwora, Moneke | Subs: Butler, Carter, Rivero, Izundu, Ojeleye
Stats: AST 16-9 | TO 10-14 | STL 8-4 | REB 40-36 | 3PT% 46.4%-38.5% | PIR 93-66
Next: Barcelona vs Panathinaikos — Play-In Round 2 | Friday 24 April | Athens (away)
